The fate of Doctor Quartz; or, Nick Carter and the dissecting room murder by Nicholas Carter

Author:Nicholas Carter [Carter, Nicholas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nick Carter, Dr. Quartz, Doctor Quartz
Published: 2023-04-06T10:25:40+00:00

CHAPTER VII

"ZEL," THE QUEEN.

There was a strange gleam in the eyes of Dr. Quartz—or Dr. Agate, as he was known by the students who surrounded him—when the woman, acting upon his instructions, drew the sheet from the face of the body upon the table.

He bent his glance fully upon the last arrival, Frank Tappen, and the tender smile which usually hovered about the corners of his mouth, had in it then something that was sinister and forbidding.

To the other students, the sight was merely that of a woman, young and beautiful, who was dead, and whose body they were to be permitted to mutilate when it should have been properly prepared for their use.

As it was, they uttered exclamations of disappointment, for they plainly saw that the doctor did not mean to use the knife that night.

A subject, fully dressed; laid out as it had been in its coffin, was hardly to their taste, and they were about to offer remonstrances, when the voice of Tappen interrupted them.

He said but one word, and yet it somehow chilled them all by its coldness.

He looked into the glittering eyes of the doctor, and said:

"Well?"

"Do you recognize the face?" asked the doctor, softly.

"Yes."

"Who is it, Tappen?" asked one of the students.

"An old schoolmate; a girl whom I once loved and wanted to marry," he said, coldly.

They looked at him in astonishment.

"Shall we proceed?" asked the doctor.

"Yes," he replied, in the same voice.

"You have no objections?"

"None."

For an instant the physician seemed puzzled.

Then, suddenly throwing the sheet back over the beautiful face, he demanded:

"Why were you late to-night?"

"I was detained."

"Where?"

"In the city."

"By whom?"

"By business."

"Where were you the night before last, at midnight?"

"In the cemetery."

"With whom?"

"With my friend, Cheever."

"Is his name Cheever?"

"No; he is a detective."

Again the doctor looked puzzled.

"Where did you go when you left the cemetery?" he asked, presently.

"To New York."

"Why?"

"To mislead the detective. Why do you ask these questions?"

"Because I believe that you have betrayed us all, and because, if you have, you shall be the next one to go upon that table where your schoolmate now lies."

"I did not betray you, but our secrets are known. We are not safe here, and you know it."

"You are crazy," said the doctor, speaking with strange. deliberation.

"No; I am not crazy. I have been, but I have recovered. I believe that I was followed to-night. I believe that if we remain here, we will be surrounded and arrested in an hour's time. However, I will, remain, if the others do."

But he had said enough to make them all only too anxious to go, and five minutes after he had spoken, all had departed except the doctor, the woman Zel, and himself.

"Why do you remain?" asked Quartz, coldly.

"Because I wish to ask you a question."

"Ah!"

"Why did you put Cora's body in the coffin that had been occupied by my—by her?" pointing toward the sheet.

The doctor chuckled.

"For you to find," he said, softly.

"How did you know that I would find it?"

"Bah! I knew it."

"Who screamed that night, when you drove away from the vault?"

"Zel.

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